Tag Archives: cauliflower

This recipe is probably one of the first ones I ever wrote down as a MUST DO and I’m finally getting to it – four years later! The original recipe that I saw oh so long ago featured a standard russet potato, but I knew from the beginning that I wanted to try a sweet potato. While regular potatoes are rather awesome, sweet potatoes are the definition of perfection in my opinion. Previous curry experience gave me the confidence needed to start experimenting which is why this recipe went from a standard baked potato to a glorious twice-baked potato. Twice baking gave all the ingredients time to get acquainted with each other, something I was worried wouldn’t happen in just making a topping and pouring it on top.

The real trick with this dish is cutting up the cauliflower as close to the same size as the peas as possible. Not only does it insure everything fits inside the potato skin, it helps keep an even cooking time. I’m also sending this potato-tastic dish over to /52weeksofcooking for their potato challenge – for while it’s a bit late it’s the perfect dish as it’s all about the potato!

Finally reaching the end of hot soup season – time to put away the stock pot and the dutch oven and get ready for fresh vegetables and cool dishes. However Mother Nature seems to be wishy-washy right now, and a few of these rainy days have been downright cold! So brought out my reliable pot and got to work creating a dish that would warm us up, while taking advantage of the early spring produce. Early spring is the only time I ever get cauliflower, as much as I enjoy the stuff the price is more than a bit insane the rest of the year. So for these few weeks I will enjoy this pale beauty and figure out how many different ways I can prepare it.

Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat in a large dutch oven. Add the curry powder, cumin, and amchur powder and cook for 2 minutes. Add the white part of the scallions and continue cooking for 3 minutes.

Add the cauliflower and stir well to fully mix in the spices. Continue cooking for 5 minutes, then stir in the stock. Bring to a boil, then covern and turn heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Use an immersion blender to puree the soup, folding in the yogurt. Cook for a final 5 minutes and then serve.

For those of you that do “normal” dairy I still recommend using the coconut yogurt as it really adds something to the soup. While the coconut yogurt isn’t as strong as standard coconut milk (or creme) it still adds enough of a hint to really make the curry POP. I enjoyed this along with some crusty bread so as to insure that no soup was left behind.

My kitchen now has LIGHT! Since buying my house many moons ago I had been dealing with a rather dark interior galley style kitchen that was lit by one 4×4 recessed light. This recessed light was not one of those nice “let there be light” versions, but rather the kind frequently found over the shower in middle school locker rooms across the nation. So not only did I suffer from no light, I also had to deal with everything being tinged a sickly yellow shade. Not anymore!!! Now my kitchen has three (3!!) gorgeous modern normal recessed lights and I can finally see what I’m doing in the kitchen at all hours of the day. There are a few more things left on the kitchen to-do list, but having these new lights is enough to satisfy me for now. For some reason it seems that doing one project seems to push me towards other projects, many of which are on the don’t really need but man would it be nice list.

This soup was one of the first things I made in my “new” kitchen, and with that I was finally able to appreciate how white cauliflower really is. I also wanted to cook something a little different than normal, using some new-to-me herbs and another attempt at a cauliflower soup. I number of years ago I tried recreating a delicious Curried Cauliflower soup and failed dramatically, killing my old blender and a nice white sweater in the process. Since soupgate, I had avoided using cauliflower in anything but basic stir frys for fear of recreating the crime scene that featured cauliflower soup on the walls…ceiling…and dogs. My new kitchen gave me the strength to get over my issues, knowing that with my new lights I would be able to see if the blender lid wasn’t fully sealed. This time, I would be eating the soup instead of wearing it!

Heat the butter in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add the spices, stir, and cook for 2minutes constantly stirring before adding the garlic and leek. Cook for 5-7 minutes, the leek should be starting to turn translucent.

Add the broccoli and cauliflower, cook for 7-10 minutes stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Allow some browning on the broccoli/cauliflower before adding the vegetable stock. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil before covering and turning heat to low. Allow to simmer for 30minutes.

Use blender to puree mixture, then add the milk and more vegetable stock if you prefer a thinner soup. Slowly start adding the cheese, stirring frequently to insure the cheese melts into the soup instead of sticking to bottom of the dutch oven.

Perfection! I served this with some left over English Muffin bread to make sure none of the soup escaped by hanging on to the side of the bowl. In the end I did decide to use my immersion blender instead of my pretty pink blender, just didn’t feel like tempting fate. If you decide to add salt or pepper, make sure to wait until after adding the cheddar cheese to avoid a salty mess.

I am a creature of habit. Every morning I wake up, feed the puppies, check email, shower/dress, and then check out my blogs while waiting for my hubby to finish up before carpooling out to the office. A few Mondays ago I saw a blog post that caused me to double take, a post of remembrance for Daniel of Haggis and Herring. I read the eulogy his loving wife wrote for him almost a dozen times before it finally sunk in. I didn’t know Daniel in real-life, but had “met” him via the Secret Recipe Club. Daniel was the person who always posted comments once everything went live, who was on the SRC Facebook page giving out advice and tips. His blog posts were always some of the first ones I read, and I was always hoping that eventually I would be partnered with him for Secret Recipe Club. For some reason whenever the linksy would post, I always wound up on H&H within the first three clicks.

In honor and remembrance of Daniel, the Secret Recipe Club has joined together across the four groups to pay tribute to such an active member of our family. Each person was asked to pick one of the MANY recipes from Haggis and Herring. When it came time to make a decision regarding the recipe I knew I wanted to do something that wouldn’t did any type of altering. Luckily, there are many amazing vegetarian recipes on his blog to pick from. In the end I went with an Indian recipe, after reading on his brother’s blog about Daniel’s passion for food coming out during his time working at an Indian restaurant. Daniel’s recipe for Potato, Cauliflower, and Pea curry is better than any take-out I have ever had. Maybe it’s the Amchur powder. Or maybe it’s that passion his brother referenced. My guess, it’s the passion he had for food.

Daniel, you will be greatly missed by everyone that had the privilege to know you.

So it’s official: Joe and I are married! While it might have rained on our wedding day, it was still amazingly wonderful and perfect and I’m still giddy thinking about our special day.

I was hoping to have posts up and running while I was out but that didn’t happen and for that I’m sorry. Hopefully I’ll be more on top of things for the honeymoon, because I have some great late spring recipes to share. While I’m still on my quest to use more local and seasonal produce, I’m also trying to reduce waste by reusing leftovers in new and (hopefully) creative ways. This recipe might not be Le Cordon Bleu quality, however it is amazing and delicious and a great way to use up leftover tofu (or chicken). I decided to clean out the cauliflower in my drawer as well after seeing more than a few recipes featuring a cauliflower pizza crust. In the end I used a modified version from Eat.Drink.Smile since I don’t have a ricer and also have a need for large amounts of garlic in my pizza.

In a medium bowl beat together the 1 cup mashed cauliflower, egg, and cheeses. Add the garlic and oregano and stir well. Pat into the bottom of a pizza pan, then cook for 10minutes.

Remove the crust from the oven and top with 1/4 cup of the BBQ sauce before topping with the tofu, red onions, and pineapples. Add the remaining BBQ sauce and then top with the cheese. Brush the edges of the crust with olive oil and then bake for an additional 15minutes. The cheese and crust should be brown.

This took care of a fair amount of the veggies in my fridge, and I have a feeling that some swiss chard (or kale) also would have gone well on this pizza. The cauliflower crust also goes great with pesto sauce, just add some feta, red onion and eggplants and enjoy a modified take on a Greek Pizza.